Sep 2, 2016

Colonial settlers

I just attended a demonstration by Israelis and Palestinians
that fell under the rubric of demonstration for “peace based on two states for
two people.” I won’t get into the issue of the two state “delusion” since I wrote
a whole book on the subject which you can read here [1]. But I do want to reflect on what I
observed and show you some illustrative pictures of how such events are used in
the Israeli hasbara (propaganda) campaigns. The Israelis were a mix of good intentioned
individuals who knew nothing of the reality of settler colonialism that is the
state of Israel or really knowledgeable Zionists who wanted to prove to
Palestinians (us) that they are not as bad as they really are (and in the
process say “look Israel is a democracy that allows opinions to be expressed). A good example of the latter category is this
guy who is a good friend of a settler security official.

"Friendly demonstrator" with settler police officer

The slogan “two states for two people” is also racist and
only corroborates colonialism.

Settler colonial entities like Israel [2] ace one of three possible outcomes and never get resolved via a two state scenario. The three
models historically known are: 1) the Algeria model, 2) The Australia/New
Zealand model, and 3) (most common) the Latin America/South Africa model. The
third model is the most common outcome of colonialism and the one that the vast
majority of native people always support whether in South Africa or Palestine.

Says "freedom" but verbally they call for two states

crossing streets but not allowed to staywhile this settler allowed on street

Many of the Israelis attending the demonstration as I said
are good intentioned “left wing” who did not study their own history well. They
have this delusion that the problems for Israel and Zionism started in 1967
with the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. But the main problem
started much earlier in the late 19th century with the notion of transforming a
multi-religious and multi-cultural society called Palestine (at the time 97%
not Jewish) to a “Jewish state of Israel.” This idea called Zionism by necessity
entailed ethnic cleansing, massacres, home demolitions, 1967 occupation and
other symptoms. We should not confuse one of the symptoms (e.g. 1967 occupation)
with the underlying etiology of this disease. Unfortunately many Palestinians (like Chief
Buthalesi in South Africa during apartheid) adopted the Zionist language. So
some of the Palestinian demonstrators today wanted freedom for Palestine “from
Hebron to Jenin”!!! But even these soft demands for 1/5th of the Palestinian
land stolen got booed by passing settler cars who honked and gave us fingers. The demonstration was mainly drawing attention
to the plight of the Palestinian political prisoners, many of them where on
hunger strike hoping to end their detentions without trial for months (also
called “administrative detention).

Just in case we get ideas! Me next to masked soldiers

more for "just in case"

Meanwhile, the Palestinian public is numbed by economic
need, accumulated debts, mental occupation, lack of water (our museum guest
apartment had no water for two weeks now), and much more. The self-declared
leadership is not concerned with people’s lives but is merely concerned with
their own selfish interests. The idea of holding municipal elections under
occupation used to be a challenge to the occupation when held in 1976. Today it
is a distraction and a chess game between various factions. The real significant
events happen elsewhere with little media coverage.

It has been almost 100 years from the time of the British
Balfour declaration and French Jules Cambon declaration in support of Zionism
issues in 1917 partially as a quid pro quo to get Zionists to lobby for the US
entrance into World War 1. Much mayhem
has happened since then. Some more important events than others. There was the
formation and Zionists take-over and of the “Federal Reserve Bank” in the US
that ensures printing money backed only by US military power to become the
world “reserve” currency (a sham system of debt and credit that enriched
thousands by that impoverished billions). There was the financing of both sides
of wars from WW2 to the Iran-Iraq war. There was Vietnam and Cambodia where
millions were massacred. The war on Iraq that cost three trillion dollars and
the lives of about a million Iraqis was a war for Israel (see [3]). The Zionist elite are enjoying major political
successes: normalization with many Arab governments, PLO now exists only in
name and only to help be a subcontractor for the occupation. But they are
suffering from some setbacks: 1) strengthening of the
Iran-Syria-Hizbollah-Russia-China alliance, 2) growth of the boycotts,
divestments, and sanctions movement [4], 3) population growth of non-Jews under
the apartheid Israeli rule (now and for the first time since the 1948 ethnic
cleansing, there are less than 50% Jewish), 4) the dream of creating sectarian
states in the Middle East by the intelligence services of Israel and the US is
evaporating (this was supposed to normalize sectarian Israel).

Many gave us the finger, I gave the V sign

at least we bought good grapes

Much has been happening that causes rational people to
question the future of the Zionist project known as the Jewish state of Israel.
The last pregnant Palestinian young women shot by an occupation army was Sara
Haddoush Trayra. It is too soon to declare that she will be the last
victim. Israel also released the body of Bahaa Ulayan, a bright young man who
helped form a reading ring around the old city f Jerusalem and promoted reading
among many young people in schools and universities throughout the occupied
areas. Israel had murdered him and held his body for 11 months. Israeli colonial
settlers continue their theft of Palestinian lands, their destruction of
Palestinian homes and their promotion of racism as law of the land [5]. These and
millions of other examples are the signs of a moral bankruptcy that is
acceleration t is too soon to declare the Zionist empire failing but many signs
point to an arrogance of power that is only seen in dying empires that stretch
themselves too thin. Yes, Israel get $4 billion of US taxpayer money (more
federal aid to Israel than any state of the United States).

The explosion yesterday that destroyed an Israeli satellite
two days before it was to launch is causing many in the circles of elite power
to ponder the changing landscape. The Israeli company Spacecom was to be sold
for $285 million to a Chinese company. The deal, announced only last week was
pending the successful launch of the satellite (dubbed Amos-6) but now the deal
is off. Whether accident or divine intervention or something else, this is
worrying Israeli elite apartheid rulers. The wind, as the Arabic proverb goes,
does not always g the way the ships want
to go.

There is a concerted Zionist campaign to oust Jeremy Corbyn
as leader of the Labor party in the UK with much money and extortion and propaganda
being spent (but may ultimately fail as evidence by the large crowd attending
any Corbyn appearance). Corbyn dares to put British and human public interests
front and center. Zionists want a puppet like they had in Clinton I (the
philanderer corrupt) or the upcoming Clinton II (the war criminal corrupt). As
public opinion shifts in the US as it did in Britain and Europe, inevitably it
will trickle to the government. As Jill Stein has little chance Trump and Hillary might accelerate the demise
of the US empire and thus be the last of the “lesser of two-evils” charade.
Meanwhile, we the people must change our approach and stop playing the game
using the rules placed on us by the bankers.

[5] See the list of over 50 laws that discriminate against
non-Jews in the “Jewish state” https://www.adalah.org/en/law/index
(ofcourse for those of us in the West Bank there are hundreds of other discriminatory
“laws” being the military orders)

15 comments:

agree with all of this except the claim that the "strengthening of the Iran-Syria-Hizbollah-Russia-China alliance" is a setback for Israel

1. Russia and Israel are close and getting closer. Witness the warm meetings between Netanyahu and Putin and the military cooperation

2. Hizbollah's participation in the suppression of the Syrian democratic (and non-democratic) forces has completely discredited it

3. the barbarity of the war in Syria is helpful to Zionists who say peace is impossible with Arabs. "If the Arabs kill Arabs so easily imagine what they would do to Jews"

4. the lack of interest in the fate of the 500,000 Palestinians in Syria discredits the Palestinian leadership. There were a couple hundred thousand in Yarmouk alone. Does anyone even know where they are now?

5. The Assad family came to power by liquidating the Syrians who wanted to come to the aid of the Palestinians during Black September. It also was infamous for starving Palestinians in Lebanon during the "War of the Camps"

A victory by democratic forces over the Assad dynasty and its sectarian supporters and the Putinists would be a setback for Israel

Thank you for taking your time to try explaining things to the author of the above text. However I'm afraid your precious words will fly over his shoulder, that is if he does not end up blocking you. Mr Qumseih is a devoted Assadist who sees a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict strictly through the "axis of resistance" – the champion of which is a heroic Assad.

I appreciate any whimper let alone a demonstration against the atrocities of occupation. Israel's PR machine is good at sidetracking any signs of support or credit to the Palestinians.... remember the recent claim that the Jordanian gold medalist was of "Israeli origin!", yes like Hummus, falafil and the embroidered women clothes. It is the best compliment one can give is to imitate, copy, forge, and eventually occupy and destroy their victim because they can't live by their enemy's values,nor they have their own. Palestinians are held and tortured in Israeli jails by British colonial laws and rules, which were enforced before the British withdrew and handed Palestine over to Israel.

Best documented review of Jewish Settlers form the beginning is in this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKzlh9kN4HI

The democratic forces in Syria.I was just looking at a viewer's guide for a US tv show about the Vietnam War of some years back. I think the website is by the guy who advised the producers on military matters. The only thing he says about the war, as opposed to what a PX is or what a spec-four was, is: "The real reality of the military and Vietnam is both boring and not very PC. It was a 99.99% male organization, planted in the midst of a hostile, Third World country, engaged in fighting a no-quarter war." I asked him (he has a "contact me" feature) if he thinks most US people think the US should quit trying to conquer the world.What do you think he will answer?It's like asking a guy if he really wants to commit suicide. The answer, not that I've tested this, is probably going to be, "Well, now that you mention it, no." So let me summarize the blog today and the comments. Mazin asks if racism is a stable basis for a state ever, and the consensus is that it isn't. Now if you don't like stability, you're going to battle on. The question is, how many people do you think are helping you?

In the computer biz, they say "GIGO," garbage in, garbage out. Since Mazin insists on ignoring the fact that the Jews are the closest people there are to aboriginal in what the Romans renamed "Syria Palestina" as part of their program of ethnic cleansing, so all Mazin's arguments are based on lies, his entire theses are garbage.

A group demonstrating at Cal the other day was giving out shot glasses to students that read, "The Zionist Voice for Berkeley". Notice it didn't say "of" Berkeley. Still telling us what to do over here too.

I am disappointed that some commenters claim I support Assad even though this is simply not true. It is perhaps because they think I need to support the Saudi-Qatari-American-Israel-Turkish sponsored war on Syrian people? Why can't I be both opposed to that and also to dictatorship?

I tried to leave this comment to your latest Blog entry, but not having any of the required accounts, I couldn't. So I leave it here:

For a fuller understanding of the Balfour declaration as a move in the European War of 1914-1917, issued just a few days before theBolsheviki took power in Russia, see how the 1937 "Peel Commission" told the true story of it:http://www.mlwerke.de/NatLib/Pal/UN1947_Palestine-Minority-Report_2ndSupplement.htm This is in the second supplement to the full text of the democratic minority position in the 1947 UN General Assembly http://www.mlwerke.de/NatLib/Pal/UN1947_Palestine-Minority-Report_start.htm (BTW, have you linked that document from your Web site?).

I just corrected two minor errors in the Peel Commission text ... and read ther in passing this:

General Smuts[*], who had been a member of the Imperial War Cabinet when the Declaration was published, speaking at Johannesburg on the 3rd November, 1919, foretold an increasing stream of Jewish immigration into Palestine and “in generations to come a great Jewish State rising there once more”.

[*] Jan Smuts, one of the architects of the South African Apartheid state; he was deputy prime minister in the SA government when that one created the South African Aliens Act, 1937 with the aim of barring Jews fleeing from the German Nazi dictatorship to immigrate into South Africa. As to the "increasing stream of Jewish immigration into Palestine" dreamed up by General Smuts, it did not occur. Contrary to Uri Avnery's beliefs, Palestine was not "the obvious choice" for Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, but the United States. The failure of the dreams of getting soon a demographic majority of colonial settlers led to the idea of partition - establish a colonial settler state first in part of the territory, conquer the rest later. Similar to the partition of Germany after WW2 by German bourgeois polititians and anglo-saxon occupation forces.

Author Stephen Greene found US military documents describing how terrorists associated with Menachem Begin went into the newly-liberated concentration camps after WWII and beat up Jews who expressed a desire to go somewhere other than Israel.

And approaching the 15th year anniversary of the terror attacks of 9-11-01, we MUST be clear who benefitted?? ONLY the zionuts can claim a benefit, and as we know from history, ONLY zionuts are ruthless enough, deceitful enough and strategically positioned enough to pull off this false-flag deception. At every corner of this operation, loyal sayanim such as Larry Silverstein lease-holder of the WTC complex and his associates Lauder, Eisenberg and Lowy all with deep zionut ties helped to privatize the WTC complex, Michael Chertoff and Judge Michael Mukasey in the Justice Dept., Paul Wolfowitz, Eliot Abrhams, Richard Perle and Dov Zakheim in the Defense Dept, WTC and airport security in zionut hands, the 200+ Israelis swept up in arrests including the 5 dancing Israelis who confessed to 'documenting event', and the 9-11 Commission headed by Philip Zelikow, avowed zionut, who had the report finished before it was even begun, his PhD was on 'creation of modern myth'. Of course there were many others who wanted 9-11 to occur within the US Govt and related agencies, but as far as the chief mover, it was israHELL and her sayanim minions in and around the US Gov't and placed strategically to forward this false-flag event which has changed everthing in all aspects of our world. Now with israHELL as the 4th most powerful military, it has nuke subs that no doubt are being used as leverage on the world powers for israHELL to get its way, no matter what, or else ie; the Samson Option! zion-ism and israHELL are biggest enemeies the world has today!!

The question that Chris above asks can be rephrased to ask if Zionunts like Alan Stein actually believe the myth they created or are they really of a level of intelligence to merely use myths to serve their genocidal plans? I am not sure which is worse: being genocidal due to delusions or racism with knowledge.

i'm still reading ~ off to DC where my daughter is involved in a major international science project working out of the Westwing of the WH (still filthy dirty from the last war criminals) / i'm slow to get to and thru most articles/ PTSD from Viet Nam makes reading go in spurts. i'll finish it when i return. In the meantime i'd just like to say: Abraham was the First Zionist.

Genesis in Aramaic talks about "the name of Bram's wife was Sarai" and they came from "the east" (not Iraq/mesopotamia as is mistaken) later the bible says they "changed their names" to Abram and Sara after accepting the authority of the (Canaanitic) God EL (but the bible itself has many Gods). The names come directly from the Hindu (east) God Brahma and His Wife/Goddess Sarai (Sarai Vista). Myths of the bible ony have something to do with Zionism in the same way as myths of Visnu had to do with today's right-wing government in India or the Quran has to do with US/Israeli sponsored ISIS!

About Me

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem University (BU) and directs the BU's cytogenetics laboratory and the Palestine Museum of Natural History and Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability in occupied Palestine. He also taught at Birzeit and Al-Quds Universities. He is author of "Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle", “Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment”, "Mammals of the Holy Land", and "The Bats of Egypt." He formerly served on the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People in Beit Sahour and Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Society at Aida Refugee Camp.